Tragedy {A Warrior Cats Fanfiction}

» Chapter Twenty-Nine «

Kestrelfur watched as Waspstar, and the rest of the CloudClan patrol, left and started heading back to their territory. She wished she had gotten a chance to talk to Waspstar, but everything happened so fast. Now she was stuck at the GladeClan camp until the Gathering, which wasn't far away, but she still hated GladeClan.

      "Feel free to have some fresh-kill," said Harestar, padding up to her. "You can relax for the rest of the day, and if you have any questions feel free to ask."

      Kestrelfur was surprised by how nice and welcoming the GladeClan leader was. "Wow. Okay."

      She went to the fresh-kill pile. Not surprisingly, over half of it consisted of rabbits. Clearly the GladeClan stereotypes were true.

      Her stomach growled and saliva was forming in her mouth as she plucked a thick and juicy rabbit from the pile. She found a spot by other GladeClan warriors who looked close to her age and took a bite. The flavors exploded in her mouth, juice sliding down her throat. It seemed like the best rabbit she had ever had.

      She was ready to dive in for another bite when Grapesplash came up beside her. He was the CloudClan warrior Waspstar had picked to stay at the GladeClan camp. His apprentice, Redpaw, stood beside him. She looked anxious, biting her lip and casting glances over her shoulder every few seconds. Since she was Grapesplash's apprentice, it made sense that she was the apprentice chosen to stay.

      "Do you want to share?" asked Grapesplash. It took Kestrelfur a moment to figure out he was talking about the rabbit. She heaved another bite down her gullet.

      "Sure," said Kestrelfur, pushing the rabbit towards him. Except the rabbit was gone. All that was left were the bones. "Oops. I guess I ate more than I realized," she said with a laugh.

      "That's okay," said Grapesplash. "I'll just get my own and share with Redpaw." Redpaw followed her mentor to the fresh-kil pile.

      Strangely enough, Kestrelfur still felt a little hungry. Nothing had been able to substain her in the past few days. But this wasn't her clan, and she didn't want to look like she was stealing prey.

      She was about to get up and hunt when the GladeClan medicine cat padded up. She searched her head for his name, but she couldn't think of it.

      "I'm Mudcloud," he said, as though reading her thoughts. "Um... I was just wondering if Cherrynose has checked you for pregnancy."

      Kestrelfur's eyes widened in surprise. "No, she hasn't. What makes you think I'm pregnant?"

      "Well," said Mudcloud, his voice coming out in a rasp, "you clearly eat a lot and your stomach looks a little swollen."

      Kestrelfur felt embarrassed that he pointed out her stomach and found herself pulling her tail closer to her belly.

      "These are the first few signs of pregnancy," he continued. "But don't worry, you still have at least a moon to go before kitting. Probably a little longer than that."

      Kestrelfur nodded, excitement boiling under her pelt. She wished she could tell Waspstar about it, but he wasn't there. Perhaps she could sneak across the border one night and tell him. Then ask about Beetlestar and Briarwing, of course.

--

"Mouse-dung!" she hissed as yet another rabbit escaped from her grasp. It felt so weird hunting in GladeClan, without the shelter of the trees and bushes. Whenever she got close the prey would magically see her and run off, so fast it would be impossible to catch. She also hated how the tall grass brushed her whiskers as she stalked the prey, making it hard to concentrate.